In this reading, we present three documents that the drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights studied. They appear in chronological order, beginning with the United States Declaration of Independence of 1776. Other documents reviewed by the Human Rights Commission, including Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “four freedoms” speech and the Atlantic Charter, are presented in Part II. By perusing these three documents, the reader can get a good sense of what sorts of rights were debated during the drafting process. As with all historical texts, students may need to research the context in which these documents were written.
This statement by America’s thirteen original colonies marked a formal break from Britain. It declared in firm, clear language that the colonies were no longer part of the British Empire. Among the grievances with which the Declaration begins were several “self-evident” truths and “unalienable” rights. These included the equality of all human beings in the eyes of their creator, and their rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” In claiming the rights to choose or replace their government and to dispose of a king who proved cruel and arbitrary, the Americans were echoing the philosophy of the Englishman John Locke (1632–1704) and other Enlightenment thinkers.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
This document, entitled Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen in French, was adopted during the early stages of the French Revolution as a preliminary effort at a new constitution. During the revolution, the “third estate” (the common people) overturned the French monarchy and established a revolutionary government based on democratic principles. With “liberty, equality, and fraternity” as its slogan, the French Revolution became an inspirational model for future democratic revolutions. Indeed, many of the basic assumptions of today’s democratic governments—including the idea that all people are equal, free, and deserve the full protection of the law—are spelled out in the Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen. Moreover, a large number of the civic and political rights listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights can be traced to this document.
Articles:
1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only on the common good.
2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.
3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.
4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law.
5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. Nothing may be prevented which is not forbidden by law, and no one may be forced to do anything not provided for by law.
6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and talents.
7. No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned except in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by law. Any one soliciting, transmitting, executing, or causing to be executed, any arbitrary order, shall be punished. But any citizen summoned or arrested in virtue of the law shall submit without delay, as resistance constitutes an offense.
8. The law shall provide for such punishments only as are strictly and obviously necessary, and no one shall suffer punishment except it be legally inflicted in virtue of a law passed and promulgated before the commission of the offense.
9. As all persons are held innocent until they shall have been declared guilty, if arrest shall be deemed indispensable, all harshness not essential to the securing of the prisoner’s person shall be severely repressed by law.
10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.
11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.
12. The security of the rights of man and of the citizen requires public military forces. These forces are, therefore, established for the good of all and not for the personal advantage of those to whom they shall be intrusted.
14. All the citizens have a right to decide, either personally or by their representatives, as to the necessity of the public contribution; to grant this freely; to know to what uses it is put; and to fix the proportion, the mode of assessment and of collection and the duration of the taxes.
15. Society has the right to require of every public agent an account of his administration.
17. Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, no one shall be deprived thereof except where public necessity, legally determined, shall clearly demand it, and then only on condition that the owner shall have been previously and equitably indemnified.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) was founded in Philadelphia in 1919 as part of the League of Nations. The constitution presented below was adopted, with the blessings of Franklin Roosevelt, in 1944. Two years later, in 1946, at the demise of the League of Nations, it became a special agency of the United Nations. The organization’s mission states that the ILO is
devoted to advancing opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity…In promoting social justice and internationally recognized human and labor rights, the organization continues to pursue its founding mission that labor peace is essential to prosperity.96
These goals, codified in some of the articles below, are part of what were termed “new rights” during discussion of the Declaration of Human Rights. This document shows that many who served on the Human Rights Commission—not just the Soviets—were deeply interested in the rights of workers.
Believing that experience has fully demonstrated the truth of the statement in the Constitution of the International Labor Organization that lasting peace can be established only if it is based on social justice, the Conference affirms that:
(a) all human beings, irrespective of race, creed or sex, have the right to pursue both their material wellbeing and their spiritual development in conditions of freedom and dignity, of economic security and equal opportunity;
…
The Conference recognizes the solemn obligation of the International Labor Organization to further among the nations of the world programs which will achieve:
(a) full employment and the raising of standards of living;
(b) the employment of workers in the occupations in which they can have the satisfaction of giving the fullest measure of their skill and attainments and make their greatest contribution to the common wellbeing;
…
(f) the extension of social security measures to provide a basic income to all in need of such protection and comprehensive medical care;
(g) adequate protection for the life and health of workers in all occupations;
(h) provision for child welfare and maternity protection;
(i) the provision of adequate nutrition, housing and facilities for recreation and culture;
(j) the assurance of equality of educational and vocational opportunity.